Ensuring Good Enough is Actually Good Enough: Utilizing Metadata Maker to Enhance Discovery and Access of a Hidden Collection of Spanish Plays

Abstract

A collection of approximately 12,000 late eighteenth- to mid-twentieth-century Spanish plays were purchased by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library in the 1960s and bound into 669 volumes. These items have been technically accessible and browsable but practically undiscoverable. A project was undertaken to improve access and discoverability of this hidden collection. The volumes were disbound, stabilized, cataloged, digitized, and placed in storage with ideal preservation conditions. Metadata Maker, an open source cataloging tool, was a critical resource in making the project feasible and ensuring good enough records were actually good enough.